00:00Hey everyone!
00:00If you're new here and you've never seen this channel before in your entire life, click
00:04right here and subscribe.
00:05But also, if you're new here and you've never seen this channel before, you might want to
00:09go back and watch some of my 5 Day Challenge episodes before you watch this recap video.
00:13For those of you that have been following along with Try Living With Lucy, I figured
00:17we have a new year on the horizon, 2019 is almost here, so I figured I'd take some time
00:22to look back at some of my favorite episodes from 2018 and give you all some updates.
00:26One of the most frequent questions I get asked is, after trying all of these lifestyle
00:30challenges, what are you still doing?
00:33People always want to know, months later, after I tried 5 days of organization, is my apartment
00:38still clean?
00:38After 5 days of indoor gardening, are my plants still alive?
00:41Am I now officially a morning person after 5 days of becoming a morning person?
00:45I get tons of Instagram DMs asking me this almost every day, so I figured I'd bundle it
00:50all into one beautifully packaged video and give it to you for Christmas.
00:55Enjoy.
00:55So, first stop is the first video of 2018, 5 Days of Meal Prep.
01:02Way, way back in January 2018, I did 5 Days of Meal Prepping where I spent one entire Sunday
01:07prepping my breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the 5 day work week.
01:11So do I still meal prep?
01:13And the answer is, not for 5 days worth of food.
01:17After filming this episode, I realized that not only was the food towards the end of the
01:20week, kind of soggy and a little wilted for my taste, but it also felt a little bit monotonous
01:25to eat the same thing every single day.
01:27And personally, my taste buds crave diversity.
01:30My schedule at Refinery29 is way less predictable than a typical 9 to 5 office job.
01:35So since I'm on set shooting videos about 2 to 3 days a week, I'm never quite sure where
01:40I'm going to be for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.
01:42And also, many of my meals are eaten with the crew on set.
01:45So bringing my own meals sometimes is not always feasible, and can be a little bit rude to
01:50the others.
01:50All of this being said, the 5 Days of Meal Prep episode did help me start to feel a little
01:54bit more comfortable in the kitchen.
01:56I feel like I'm un-chopped.
01:57How do we want to cook the chicken?
01:59How's my rice doing?
02:00Ah!
02:01And I've also made Alyssa Gagarin's Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Chickpea Bars about 5 or 6 more
02:06times in 2018 because they are so good.
02:09Alright, on to the next episode.
02:13To be totally honest with you all, there have only been a few episodes of Try Living
02:17with Lucy to date that have deeply affected my life.
02:20To name a few, 5 Days of Yoga, I now practice yoga 2 to 3 times a week.
02:245 Days of Ayurveda, I've studied this topic extensively and it's now become a major part
02:29of my lifestyle.
02:30And also 5 Days of Zero Waste, which has affected how I live my life both inside and outside
02:34of my apartment.
02:35And one other episode that has really stuck with me and added a major new hobby into my life
02:40was 5 Days of Calligraphy and Hand Lettering.
02:42My first bullet journaling episode in 2017 inspired me to start a bullet journal of my
02:47own.
02:47And once I began my 2018 bullet journal, my hand lettering and calligraphy skills were
02:52put to good use.
02:53I've shared most of what's in my 2018 bullet journal on YouTube this year, including a
02:57holiday spread which should be on my personal YouTube channel this month.
03:01And you'll probably notice that compared to my first ever video on hand lettering, my
03:05skills have improved drastically in the past year.
03:08And it's all about practicing and getting the strokes down and starting to memorize how
03:12certain letters look when you connect them.
03:15So certain letters like R's and S's were way more difficult for me in the past and now
03:19I'm a lot better at them.
03:20I love that when you type in LucyThink bullet journal to YouTube, you get a selection of
03:25bright and colorful videos that pop up.
03:27And I think if you add up the views on all of those videos, it's approaching about 2 million
03:31views.
03:32It just makes me so happy to see that a skill that I genuinely love doing is being enjoyed
03:36by so many people out there.
03:37Let's keep this moving on to the next episode topic, 5 Days of Self-Care.
03:44As I mentioned in that episode, self-care has become a $400 billion industry.
03:49And as more wellness bloggers and influencers have begun supporting this industry, it's becoming
03:54easier and easier for consumers out there to think that self-care is about buying candles
03:59and crystals and taking bubble baths.
04:02And I'm just going to come out and say it, I'm as guilty as anyone.
04:05I have definitely tied a ton of my Instagram partnerships to self-care.
04:08But it's important to know that even though candles and crystals and baths are amazing,
04:13there's so much more to self-care than those tangible things.
04:16I made that first episode on self-care back in March 2018 after I had a pretty rocky January
04:22that was just filled with stress.
04:23And honestly, as the year has progressed and as my job has gotten crazier and simultaneously
04:28my social media channels have grown, I realized that my stress isn't going anywhere.
04:33As I grow and develop and my career path continues to weave and wind, I know that the
04:38best thing that I can do for myself is to stay grounded.
04:42I'm the only one that's in charge of my health and my happiness.
04:45And as I've come to terms with this, I've ramped up my self-care.
04:492018 has seriously been my healthiest, happiest, and most mindful year yet.
04:54I've started including meditation in my life regularly, often going to meditation classes
04:59in New York City or just listening to YouTube meditations at home.
05:02I've begun listening to tons of podcasts about health and self-care at any opportunity I get.
05:08I've been practicing weekly yoga with my twin sister and I continue to watercolor and bullet
05:13journal as another form of de-stressing.
05:15Alright, for the next episode recap, I'm going to mix two episodes in one because they're
05:19so closely related.
05:205 days of spring cleaning and 5 days of organization.
05:24When I shot both of these episodes, I realized just how true the saying is that outer order creates
05:29inner calm.
05:30Cleaning has surprisingly become something that I actually enjoy doing as an adult.
05:34And I say surprisingly because in my family, I've always been the messy kid.
05:39My twin sister is a total neat freak, my older brother is really organized, and my room
05:44used to be littered with clothes and toys.
05:46And now I've realized just how nice it feels to have things organized, clean, decluttered,
05:52and also how great it feels to donate and to just have fewer things.
05:56I've continued to make my bed every morning, it's become habitual for me, and I actually
06:00have an entirely new system that I use for washing dishes, and believe it or not, it has
06:05become fun, fun to wash dishes.
06:09I basically put on rubber gloves so my hands don't get all pruney, and I start by batch
06:13soaping everything.
06:14So once everything is all soaked up and cleaned, then I batch rinse everything.
06:19This saves water so I'm not running the water as I scrub, and it also makes the process
06:23go by a lot faster.
06:25As for the way I organized my entire apartment in 5 days of organization, honestly I've kept
06:30things pretty neat.
06:31My bathroom cabinets have maybe gotten a little bit more cluttered as I've added a couple
06:35of new products to the shelves here and there, and my closets and drawers of clothes haven't
06:39stayed quite as neat as they were when Horderly came over and taught me how to fold.
06:43T-shirts are still pretty good.
06:45This is the file fold they taught me.
06:47I definitely do need to refold some of those drawers.
06:50I've had a lot of people asking me for more cleaning and organizing episodes.
06:54Many people have even asked to see a clean with me video, you know those 20 minute long
06:58videos on YouTube where I just roll and play a time lapse of me cleaning something.
07:02So if that sounds like something you'd be interested in watching, comment below and let me know.
07:06And now on to the next 5 days of different styles.
07:11This was one of my favorite episodes this year because that week proved to me just how
07:16much your style can affect your confidence and the energy that you exude.
07:20And actually, since filming that one, I do feel like I've started to express my personality
07:25a bit more through fashion.
07:26Growing up, I never really felt like I had a specific sense of fashion.
07:30In fact, I felt like I had no fashion sense because I found myself constantly mixing colors
07:35and patterns that other people told me did not work well together.
07:39But there have been a few instances since this episode that I've found myself picking out
07:43outfits that really correlate to my personality.
07:46For example, I had an engagement party last month and I found myself pulling together this
07:50really unique outfit.
07:51It was these velvet blush pants with a white turtleneck bodysuit.
07:55And then on top of everything was this gold sequined sparkly dress.
07:59I knew that I wanted the outfit to be unique and different and almost a little fairytale-esque,
08:03and I think the outfit I chose really captured my personality.
08:07Above all, I feel like I'm starting to veer away from wearing things that are considered universally
08:11stylish and more towards putting things together that I actually love or that capture a specific
08:17vibe that I'm going for.
08:18And from some of the responses I've been getting on Instagram, it's becoming increasingly clear
08:22to me that it's really not about what you wear, but it's about your confidence and how
08:26you rock it.
08:27Up next, five days of indoor gardening.
08:32In this episode, I worked with my friend Maria Faiella from the Bloom and Grow Radio podcast
08:36to completely transform my space and add 26 plants and a pet fish Buttercup into my house.
08:43I've had tons of people asking me how Buttercup's doing, and I know I shared this update on Instagram,
08:48but I'll share it here too.
08:49I actually gifted Buttercup to a family friend.
08:51She's a 12-year-old girl who desperately wanted a fish, and I realized that she would be a way
08:56better fish mom than I was going to be because my travel schedule is crazy.
09:00A couple of my window sill plants are doing better than others.
09:02So the snake plant is thriving, it grew a few more sprouts, and it's pretty tall.
09:06The sago palm looks good.
09:08The parlor palm is not doing so hot, I'm not sure how to revive this one.
09:13And the money tree looks okay, but the leaves are starting to get some holes in them.
09:16Since the episode, I've also added two new plants to that window sill.
09:20My kitchen herb garden is looking great too, so I've switched to using an herb garden from
09:24a company called Click and Grow.
09:26They come in pods, and it's super easy to maintain.
09:28First, I was growing basil, and then once I harvested all that basil, I switched it to
09:32peppermint.
09:33And I use the herbs all the time to make tea.
09:35My lime tree is thriving.
09:37He's grown so many more leaves since the episode, and I've continued to water him about every
09:41three days or so.
09:42I even got a cute new ceramic watering can that I love.
09:45I just love seeing all the greenery around here, and I've inspired many of my friends
09:49to start getting plants for their homes too.
09:52Also, since the episode, I've named each of my plant babies.
09:55The windowsill plants are all names from the office, so Dwight Schrute is my snake plant,
10:00Kevin Malone is my money tree, then there's Phyllis and Toby, who's not looking so hot.
10:05The two newer plants are Jim and Pam, and I did originally have six air plants, and they
10:09were Andy, Erin, Kelly, Ryan, Angela, and Oscar, but all of them, except for Oscar, have died.
10:15My lime tree is Michael Scott, and then in my bedroom, I have three succulents, and those
10:20are the mean girls, Gretchen, Karen, and Regina George.
10:24Next episode, five days of becoming a morning person.
10:28There was a time earlier this year when all I freaking wanted was to become a morning person.
10:34The thing you want to do is most definitely wake up early.
10:38Why do I want to do that?
10:40Um, because you want to be a morning person?
10:43Do I ever stop talking about it?
10:45Never.
10:46I'm really sick of it.
10:47I felt like morning people were more productive and more successful, and I was so inspired
10:51by people who woke up early and accomplished half of their to-do list before the sun even
10:56came up.
10:57To be totally honest with you all, interests and goals change, and I'm not really all
11:01that inspired to do this anymore.
11:02I've even come across some studies that say what's best for your body is just what your
11:07body naturally does, so if you don't get tired until later in the night, and you can actually
11:11sleep until later in the morning, then that might actually be what makes you the most productive.
11:15The one aspect of this video that I have attempted to carry forward is setting that 8pm stop
11:20time for myself when it comes to being on my phone and my computer.
11:24This was also the episode where I started following Deepak Chopra's 21 Day Meditation Challenge
11:29on YouTube, so I just wanted to show you how pretty the final tracker looks now that it's
11:33all filled out, and I also wanted to let you know how great that 21 day challenge
11:37was.
11:37I had never stuck to meditating 21 days in a row before that, and I really got into a
11:42good groove.
11:42Second to last video recap, Ayurveda.
11:47I'll just come out and say it, this was my favorite episode of Try Living with Lucy
11:51ever, in the history of Try Living with Lucy.
11:54And based on the YouTube comments, it seems like a lot of you felt the same way.
11:58This episode took so much research and so much preparation before I even started filming.
12:02Putting the episode together and sharing what I had learned with all of you, that was the
12:06easy part.
12:07So, how has Ayurveda continued to influence my life?
12:10Well, firstly, I'm still listening to the Highest Self podcast.
12:13I got myself a rice cooker, and I've started making kichiri for dinner every so often.
12:18Kichiri is a mixture of yellow mung dal beans, basmati rice, ghee, and digestive spices, and
12:24it's considered a very cleansing and detoxifying food in Ayurveda.
12:27Let's see, what else?
12:28I scrape my tongue with my tongue scraper every morning.
12:31Knowing that I'm a vata, I've started scaling back on most of the cooling foods in my life,
12:36and I've begun adding tons of warming, grounding foods to my diet.
12:39I've also started practicing abhyanga, or self-oil massage, after showers.
12:43And I've started giving myself a nice foot massage with sesame oil before going to sleep.
12:48I've also been attending Ayurvedic workshops at my local yoga studio.
12:51I've been getting into essential oils, and I've had all of my friends and family take the Ayurvedic dosha quiz.
12:57And the final episode of the year that I want to recap is five days of learning new skills.
13:06I've become fully obsessed with my Fender ukulele.
13:10There's my uke.
13:12Pass.
13:15Please.
13:16I think that's right.
13:18I pick it up almost every night and either play new songs or write new songs.
13:22I love YouTube so much.
13:27That's all we have time for, thank you.
13:29And I think I've become pretty good at strumming compared to how I was initially.
13:42My fingers hurt when I strum like this, so maybe I will strum like that anymore.
13:50Right now I'm almost bleeding on this finger.
13:54It hurts.
13:55Next, making my own scoby for kombucha opened my eyes to probiotics and gut health, so much so that I
14:01actually made an entire episode of Try Living with Lucy about gut health, and this should be coming out soon.
14:06The thing about this episode that really shocked me was how quickly you can pick up on a new skill
14:10just by practicing and sticking to it.
14:13I'm getting close.
14:14See ya!
14:16And I'm very excited because I even have a few more classes on my calendar for the end of this
14:20year, including a drumming class, a sushi-making class, and an origami class.
14:24So overall, I'd say 2018 was a pretty great year.
14:28I'd love to know what challenges you want to see me try in 2019, and I would encourage you all
14:32to follow along with my personal life on my Instagram, at LucyBThink, and also on my personal YouTube channel, which
14:39is just YouTube.com forward slash LucyBThink.
14:42There's one more new episode coming for you next week, and then we'll see ya next year.
14:46Love you! Bye!
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